Alfred H. Miles, ed. Women Poets of the Nineteenth Century. 1907.
By Songs and Ballads. IV. “I do not Love Thee!”Caroline Elizabeth Sarah (Sheridan) Norton (1808–1877)
I
And yet when thou art absent I am sad;
And envy even the bright blue sky above thee,
Whose quiet stars may see thee and be glad.
Whate’er thou dost seems still well done, to me—
And often in my solitude I sigh—
That those I do love are not more like thee!
I hate the sound (though those who speak be dear)
Which breaks the lingering echo of the tone
Thy voice of music leaves upon my ear.
With their deep, bright, and most expressive blue—
Between me and the midnight heaven arise,
Oftener than any eyes I ever knew.
Others will scarcely trust my candid heart;
And oft I catch them smiling as they pass,
Because they see me gazing where thou art.